DICLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter.
Voldemort hit the floor, finally defeated. His few remaining Death Eaters fled, and now that their master was gone for good, hundreds upon hundreds of hands embraced Harry Potter. The hands of friends, fellow students, and even teachers, overjoyed at the fact that the needn't worry anymore. They didn't have to worry. The war had ended. After countless years of fear it was over. No longer did someone fear coming home, not knowing what they might find. No longer did the sadness engorge those who loved ones had been taken away at the hands of Voldemort, because they knew it was over.
Soon after, everyone gathered in the Great Hall. The house tables were gone. Instead in the middle of the Great Hall were two long tables, not separated by house for once. Families sat along the table rejoicing and some mourning. The Weasley's sat at the end of the first table, Harry & Hermione among them. A stream of people kept coming up giving Harry their gratitude. Harry and Ron sat next to each other. Hermione on Ron's other sided and Ginny on Harry's. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Percy, George, and Bill all sat on the opposite side. Mrs. Weasley. Tears streaming down her face said "I can't believe it. I mean all because of you three, it's over!" They had just finished recounting the tail, in brief, about what they've been doing the last year dealing with the Horcruxes. Harry tried to mention the Deathly Hallows as little as possible. Harry felt it was wiser not to. It wasn't hard, as there was so much else to tell. The rest of the group was in a shocked silence. Mrs. Weasley went on, "You could've been killed. What were you thinking? It was awfully dangerous. Dumbledore could have left anyone else to do it. Three teenagers! And they said he was mad." Harry went to speak but Bill got there first. "Mum," Bill spoke up, "if it was for these three Voldemort would still be alive and still be killing. Don't get your knickers in a bunch." They laughed. It was the first of many times, Harry knew, that they recounted the story of searching for the Horcruxes. He also hadn't had a chance to tell Ron and Hermione about harry himself being one. He was debating whether he should or not.
He could here them now. Hermione would say something along the lines of 'HARRY! Why wouldn't you have told us? You would have left yourself to go and die? Although we would have figured it out sooner or later. That's really dark magic, you know.' and Ron 'Blimey. You a horcrux. Wow.'
This is nice, Harry thought. It had been close to a year since they had time to joke around. It was close to a year since they much of anything except for search for the remaining Horcruxes. He knew once he got to The Burrow, he would finally have a nice home cooked meal. With this thought in mind, Harry was eagerly awaiting having dinner. And sleep would do him good too.
Down the table from them, Harry could just make out the glint of the ruby encrusted hilt that was of the Gryffindor sword, that Neville was happily showing off to the gaggle of admirers surrounding him. Harry could also see Neville's grandmother telling anyone who would listen, "That's my grandson right there. He cut the head off You-Know-Who's snake, he did. He's so brave, just like his parents were." At this, Neville turned beet red.
He looked around. Many faces, well most faces, were looking in his direction and many debating whether or not to come talk to him. If it wasn't for the stern look Molly Weasley gave everyone who came over, Harry was sure would be mobbed. For this, he was entirely grateful.
Harry turned his attention back to the conversation in front of him. "What you did mum, that was bloody amazing. I've never seen you like that." Mrs. Weasley grinned modestly. While the rest of them were lost in conversation, Ginny turned to Harry and whispered, "I think you need a break. Put your cloak on and follow me." With that she got up. He threw his invisibility cloak over him and left. On his way out of the Great Hall, he glanced back. Hermione beamed at him and everyone else hastily started talking again when they noticed him looking but not before he caught shocked and bemused expressions on their faces. They knew without a doubt where he was going. Harry chuckled to himself and ran to catch up with Ginny.
Once out of the Great Hall, Harry pulled off the cloak,since everyone was in the Great Hall, and Ginny grabbed his hand. He didn't object. He had really missed her during the time he was gone. They just strolled across the grounds for a while. It felt nice not to be started and pionted at like he was back in there. Finally, they sat down at the tree where they had spent so many of their weekends last year just relaxing and watching the giant squid. That felt like ages ago. "What you did, while you all were gone, was," she paused trying to think of the right word. "Spectacular."
"Yeah. I mean I guess." Harry blushed. They sat there in silence for a little while. It wasn't awkward silence though. It was comfortable.
After a while, Ginny spoke up. "So what now?" she asked.
"Excuse me?" Harry was suddenly brought back down to earth.
"About us," she replied.
"Well yeah, I was sort of thinking about that too." They looked into each other's eyes. They didn't have to say it. They both knew what the other wanted to do. Ginny smiled. Harry had butterflies in his stomach at the sight of her perfect smile. They sat in silence, each thinking, each taking in the scene of a very damaged Hogwarts.
The last thing Harry wanted was to be left alone to his thoughts. he felt entirely guilty for the loss of Fred, Lupin and Tonks. Teddy would grow up without his parents and Harry knew exactly how hard that was. Harry knew that if they had to choose a way to leave, it would have been to go down fighting. This thought didn't help Harry much with his feeling of regret. Ginny's thoughts were along the same line in the sense that she was thinking about how she would never see Fred again. The feeling of regret was slowly seeping through his entire body as he thought of this. He needed a distraction from his thoughts. As if she read his mind, Ginny spoke,"It's alright. Everything is fine now. It's over. No one else will die at the hands of Voldemort." He wasn't sure if she was trying to convince Harry or herself but either way, he knew she was right.
He and Ginny started taking, about nothing in paticular. Just talking. They were happy to be able to be with each other again. To know that they could finally be happy and live the rest of their lives together.
A short while later, Ron and Hermione joined them, hand in hand. "Ooooh," Ron said smirking at the sight of harry and Ginny sitting with her head on his shoulder. "Oh to you too," Ginny said, indicating their hands. They sat down too and were soon accompanied by the rest of the Weasley's along with Neville and his grandmum. As the sun was setting, Mrs. Weasley invited everyone over to The Burrow. "We're celebrating," she said. Harry thought he could detect a flicker of sadness across her face. She just lost one of her sons, Harry thought, she has every right to be upset.
Hagrid, Kingsley, McGonagall, and some others Harry didn't quite recognize were at the burrow along with them. The people that Harry assumed were from the ministry, surrounded him,wanting to know what happened. With details. He was trying to think of an excuse to leave when Hagrid caught sight of him and grabbed him in a bone wrenching hug. "Harry! Yer did it, Harry! I thought fer sure you was a goner. But yer showed him all right." He hugged him for an eternity, or at least, it seemed that way. After he let Harry go and started talking with others, Harry found Ginny.
"Come on," she said. They went upstairs to her room. She shut the door. They stared deep into each other's eyes. They stepped closer. When their lips met, it was if a thousand fireworks had went off inside of him. They kissed like never before. He realized, at this moment, exactly how much he missed her. He had one hand on her back one intertwined in her hair, smelling sweetly of flowers. How long they were kissing, Harry didn't notice. They finally broke apart when they heard Mrs. Weasley hollering up the steps for them. They made their way downstairs, Ginny blushing furiously. Mrs. Weasley didn't find it at all surprising that they were upstairs together. In fact, she seemed rather pleased. "I told Authour this would happen one day. I was sure that's what it meant when I saw you two lying against the tree like you were earlier. I've seen the way you look at each other and I've seen that look for a while now." Ginny turned even redder, if that was possible. Harry happily noticed that nobody, with the exception of Ron and Hermione, noticed they had come back from Ginny's room together. He didn't think that would look so great but he honestly didn't care. Ron winked and Hermione beamed.
As Harry looked around, everyone seemed lost in conversation. Harry could just catch snippets of them. Mr. Weasley, Kingsley, and Percy were discussing what would become of the Ministry of Magic. Apparently Kingsley had been appointed Minister. Hagrid, Bill, and Charlie were also talking but Harry couldn't make out what. George was getting food but looked rather depressed.
The services for Remus, Tonks, and Fred were sometime during the following week.